"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in
barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and
the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of
speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed
as the highest aspiration of the common people."

- Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Introduction
-=+=+=+=+=-

During the past several months, we have been constantly bombarded by the
news about "ethnic" strife in Karachi. Every week several people are
reported killed, scores of houses burnt, buses attacked or car bombs
exploded. A litany of accusations and counter-accusations often follow
these events. We hear of the government position and the "anti-government
position." The people of Sindh occupy the centre-stage in this brutal
drama. Yet we never hear about their position. Sindhis are silently
suffering, thousands have been killed by the fascistic "troops" of the
Muhajir Quoumi Mahaz (MQM).(2) Hundreds are thrown behind bars by Ms.
Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Sindhi intellectuals are
subjected to constant harassment. Thousands of Sindhi books and
periodicals are banned. Even Sindhi translation of the works of
international repute such as Pablo Neruda's poetry are proscribed.

Background
-=+=+=+=-

In 1834 Sir Charles Napier "sinned" by conquering Sindh. Although this
South Asian nation had for centuries followed non-violent path of peaceful
coexistence, it was often subjected to imperial designs of outsiders.
Sindh was conquered by the Arabs in the "name of Islam" in the 12th
century, and by the Moghuls in the seventeenth century. Through consistent
struggle for freedom, Sindhis maintained their status as an independent
entity and played a significant role in the promotion of peaceful
coexistence. By 1897, Sindhis decided to embark upon an armed struggle
against the British. Sindh saw the first Martial Law in 1899. Several
thousand Sindhis were thrown behind bars and when the jails could not
accommodate more prisoners, the British decided to convert entire villages
into prisons. They would put barbed wires around a village, disarm all
inhabitants of that village and post a few sentries who supervised the
agrarian subsistence activities of the villagers.

To paraphrase Nehru, on midnight of 14 August 1947, while South Asia was
having a "tryst with history," Sindh was engulfed into the deep darkness of
internal colonialism, pillage and loss of identity, land and resources. In
1947, the British "handed over" Sindh to the "Brown Sahibs", that is to the
Muslim League and rulers of a new country - Pakistan. The dark clouds of
"internal colonialism" descended in earnest and Sindhi people's right to
self-determination was squashed under the heavy boots of Pakistan's
fascistic military and its "partners" - the British-trained bureaucracy
(almost exclusively non-Sindhi), rising capitalist class, and feudal lords.
The Sindhi language which was the "first language" of over 90 percent
people living in Sindh before 1947, was taught in schools and had an
extremely rich literary tradition. By 1950, teaching of Sindhi language
was deemed a crime; by 1952, several Sindhi writers and intellectuals were
thrown behind bars; by 1954, Sindh even lost its provincial status and was
amalgamated with the other West Pakistani provinces. So much for freedom.
The make-shift "barbed-wire" prisons created by the British during the
first three decades of the 20th Century were "dismantled" 11 years after
the so-called liberation of Pakistan in 1958.

In July 1970, Sindh regained its provincial status but by this time the
damage was done. A majority of refugees who migrated from Muslim minority
provinces in India to Pakistan were settled in Sindh. Although an exchange
of population took place in Punjab and Bengal as well, these entities
experienced the least linguistic or cultural damage. Essentially
Punjabi-speaking Sikhs were replaced by Punjabi-speaking Muslims in Punjab
and Bengali-speaking Hindus were replaced by Bengali-speaking Muslim in
Bengal. In Sindh, Sindhi intellectuals and literati, who happened to
profess a unique brand of Hinduism(3) were replaced by Urdu-speaking
Muslims. These refugees were neither spiritually, culturally nor
linguistically compatible with Sindhis. But they were allied to the ruling
parties and formed the core of the military-bureaucratic oligarchy that
came to rule Pakistan.

In the recent years, hundreds of Sindhis have been brutally killed by the
fascistic gangs of Urdu-speaking fundamentalist Muslims whose activities
are somehow unnoticed by the successive Pakistani governments - military or
civilian. Currently, although prime minister of Pakistan is a Sindhi woman
- Ms. Benazir Bhutto. She has demonstrated very little understanding of
the dreams, desires and aspirations of the Sindh people. Ms. Bhutto has
also proven to be an outright opportunist who would much rather curry
favours from John Majors or Bill Clintons then to worry about people of
Sindh or other dispossessed Pakistanis.

Fascism in Pakistan
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-

Culturally and temperamentally, Sindhis are incompatible with political,
economic, cultural, spiritual and social values and practices of the
post-partition Muslim League leadership, the military-bureaucratic
oligarchy and its capitalist, feudal and religious allies. In the forty
eight years of its existence, Pakistan has experienced at least three
military coup d'etats resulting in the direct military rule for over 25
years and "indirect" military rule for 23 years.

Direct Military Rule
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-

The period of "direct" military rule is characterised by a military general
being the head of state. The military directly ruled Pakistan from 1958 to
1971 and 1977 to 1988. During these times, the military abrogated three
Constitutions, imposed a serious restrictions on civil liberties and opened
up Pakistani "markets" to the multi-national corporations (MNCs). General
Ayub Khan's dictatorship from 1958-68 was characterised by the processes of
"concentration" and "militarisation". During this time almost 80 percent
of Pakistani wealth became concentrated in the hands of 22 families - all
having strong links to the MNCs. Military expenditures reached
unprecedented heights. As well, several industrial units were established
by the military thus "militarising profits" from the hitherto civilian
goods and services producing sector. Mr. Bhutto was General Ayub Khan's
foreign minister.

General Yahya Khan's military rule was short but saw the birth of
Bangladesh after the attempted genocide of Bengali people by the hands of
the Pakistani military. His period also provided an opportunity to Mr.
Bhutto to build a strong relationship between the PPP and the Pakistani
military.

General ZiaulHaque's period coincided with serious global changes. The
United States came to be ruled by the ultra-right wing Republican President
Reagan; a fundamentalist religious group came into power in neighbouring
Iran; and, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. General Zia established a
fascistic state. The 1972 Constitution was put "in abeyance', all civil
liberties were "suspended", academic freedoms were dismantled, and Islamic
Shari'a law became the cornerstone of the Pakistani judicial system.

Indirect Military Rule
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-

The period of "indirect" military rule, however, has several
characteristics. Here is the brief review of the various periods of
Indirect Military rule in Pakistan: 1947 to 1958

During this period, Pakistan had no constitution. A Governor General and
then a series of prime ministers ruled this new country and presided over a
Constituent Assembly whose mandate came from the elections held in 1945
under the British rule. A large number of the members of the Constituent
Assembly were elected in the areas outside of the newly created country -
Pakistan. The military influence on Pakistani politics became evident from
early 1951 when the then "General Officer Commander" of Pakistani army Ayub
Khan travelled to Washington and signed a bilateral agreement with the
United States. Neither his trip to Washington nor an agreement were
"pre-approved" by the Prime Minister. The agreement nevertheless was
ratified by the Prime Minister. Soon after, Pakistan became a fully
fledged member of the Western "collective security" arrangement of SEATO
and CENTO.

The government move towards silencing all voices of dissent during 1950's
had an eerie resemblance to McCarthyism in the United States. In their
quest to silence all voices of opposition, the Muslim league rulers and
their "sponsors", banned the Community Party in 1952, promulgated One Unit
Ordinance whereby four West Pakistani provinces were amalgamated. During
this time, military expenditure constituted over 50 percent of Pakistan's
entire federal budget.

December 1971 to July 1977
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-

Four days after Pakistani armed forces surrendered to the freedom-fighters
of Bangladesh and Indian Army, Mr. Z.A. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party
(PPP) came in power on 20 December 1971. Mr. Bhutto, himself a scion of a
powerful Sindhi feudal family, was a strong proponent of "strong Pakistan"
and believed that a "strong military would help build strong Pakistan." He
sanctioned military intervention in politics when he dismissed the duly
elected National Awami Party (NAP) government in Baluchistan and a
coalition government in North West Frontier Province (Pushtoonistan). Both
these governments were able to provide a viable alternative to Mr.
Bhutto's populism - a true social democracy. During his first six years,
Mr. Bhutto tried to dismantle all vestiges of social democracy in
Pakistan. He brought in some of the worst labour legislation, banned NAP,
made overt statements that the military has a place in politics, banned
hundreds of Sindhi books and periodicals, waged an active "war" against
Baluch, Pushtoon and to some extent Sindhi people. He also brought in
thousands of pro-Pakistani "refugees" from Bangladesh and ensured their
settlement in Sindh. He pointedly refused to restore civil liberties,
introduce policies to promote female participation in work place and other
walks of life, abolish child labour practices and renegotiate federalism
between four provinces - Sindh, Baluchistan, Punjab and Pushtoonistan. His
last year in power he spent appeasing fundamentalist and fascistic
religious groups and came out with legislation which effectively made
Ahmadiyas(4) second class citizens, banned liquor and introduced the
"Shari'a(5)" laws. December 1988 to date

Two prime ministers have governed during this period: The Late Mr.
Bhutto's daughter Benazir Bhutto leading PPP government and Mr. Nawaz
Shareef leading a Muslim League government. Although following a different
ideological perspective, both of these prime ministers have shown a
remarkable uniformity of "vision" and have tried to "outshine" one another
when it comes to quelling public protests, opening up Pakistan to the
pillage of the multi-national corporations, limiting civil liberties,
appeasing Pakistani military, or denying Sindhi people the right to
self-determination. They also have shown a tremendous capacity to allow
violence against Sindhi people and have constantly appeased MQM.

Concluding Remarks
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-

The experience of Pakistan has shown that the successive Pakistani regimes
- directly or indirectly military, have systematically violated human
rights of Pakistani people in general and of Sindhi people in particular.
We have been rendered third and fourth class citizens in our own country.
Our rights as citizens have been brutally violated. All political, social,
legal, cultural, theological and economic institutions of Pakistan have
become "repressive state instruments" vis-=E0-vis Sindhis. In sum, we
Sindhis cannot co-exist with a fascistic state.

The political philosophy, economic goals and social values of Sindhi people
are guided by our unique historical, cultural and linguistic experience.
We are different within a vast sea of different nations and peoples of the
South Asian Sub-Continent. We respect other people's difference and are
seeking such recognition for ourselves. We have no desire to impose our
language, culture, spiritual beliefs, socio-political values or economic
agenda on any other nation, we only aim to be allowed to thrive and develop
within Sindh without any threat to our national existence, sovereignty or
human rights.

Human rights are not crumbs that ruling classes or entities throw at people
to keep them at bay. Recognition of human rights is the fundamental
acknowledgement of the existence of an individual or of a collective. As a
Sindhi intellectual I am seeking acknowledgement of Sindhi people's
collective right to self-determination and their individual right to
survival, safety, as well as to cultural, spiritual, political, economic,
social and legal freedoms. We want to build a Sindhi society where
everyone will have the right to life, liberty and security. Where we will
have open and accountable political and economic institutions. The role of
the government in Sindh will be to ensure that human rights, as enshrined
in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, of every citizen are
respected. We would like to build a Sindh where children are recognised as
persons and their rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child are respected. Our Sindh will provide equal
opportunity to all citizens regardless of their gender, age, sexual
orientation, religious belief, political ideology, or caste. A society
with fair and equitable taxation system and employment rights for all
citizens. A society free of fundamentalist and bigoted versions of Islam.
A society where Sindhis can dispense education in the Sindhi language and
sing verses by Sachal Sarmast or Shaikh Ayaz without fearing imprisonment.

Sindh wants to emerge as a global partner in peace. We need help from all
freedom-loving people all over the world. Sindh is screaming for help.
Sindhis are begging to be noticed.

End Notes

(1) The author is a veteran activist for human rights. His
activism earned him several months imprisonment under the various
Pakistani regimes when he was living in the Occupied Sindh. He
has published several essays, articles and short stories. He is
currently working as Executive Director of Ktunaxa/Kinbasket
Child and Family Service Society. This agency is owned by the
Ktunaxa and Kinbasket people of an Aboriginal Nation in British
Columbia, Canada. The views expressed herein are of the author
alone and do not reflect the views of his employers.

(2) The Muhajir Quoumi Mahaz or "Mohajir National Front" is a
terrorist organisation consisting of fundamentalist Muslim and
economically conservative Urdu-speaking elites. The word
"Mohajir" means refugee, referring to the fact that these
Urdu-speaking elites immigrated to Sindh from Muslim-minority
provinces of India in 1947.

(3) Sindhi Hindus follow mystic or Sufi thought of Guru Nanak and
hold "Granth Sahib" as one of their most revered scriptures.
Hindus in the rest of India follow Upanishadic teachings,
Bhagawad Gita and other Hindu texts. Granth Sahib is the Sikh
text.

(4) The Ahmadiya people are an Islamic sect. They are mainly
concentrated in Punjab. The fundamentalist Muslims do not
recognise Ahmadiyas as Muslims. Ahmadiya people have always
maintained that they are Muslims.

(5) The Shari'a laws are at the heart of the Islamic
jurisprudence. The sources of these laws are the Qura'an, the
commandments and practices of Prophet Mohammed (Hadith) and the
works of the four "righteous jurists".